Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

Chapter 155 Global Popularity
When the news that "As Long As You Love Me" topped the radio charts in three cities in the United States, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, spread back to China.

The country was in an uproar.

Many singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan looked incredulous.

That's America! Not Singapore or other places where Chinese music is radiating.

And Zhou Ziheng is not without rivals on the list this time.

Among his contemporaries, several are top singers in Europe and the United States.

It was in such competition that "As Long As You Love Me" actually made it to the top charts in several major cities in the United States.

This has clearly demonstrated one thing.

That is, Zhou Ziheng really has the ability to make inroads into Europe and the United States and achieve remarkable results there.

And this is absolutely unprecedented in the history of Chinese music.

The media reporters went crazy.

As much as he had doubted Zhou Ziheng's arrogance in the beginning, the slap he received from him now was just as severe.

To be honest, it’s okay as the media, but being a fence-sitter is their motto.

They are already used to changing with the wind.

The ones who suffered the most were undoubtedly the musicians and music critics such as Shuang Muxi who had questioned Zhou Ziheng's intentions and returned home in defeat.

After Zhou Ziheng's songs achieved good results in Canada and the United States.

The media rushed to interview them.

"Mr. Lin, you said before that Zhou Ziheng's English album would definitely fail in Europe and the United States, but the fact is that Zhou Ziheng's English songs are now extremely popular in Europe and the United States, and have already topped many first-line charts in New York and other places.

European and American media called him a storm from the East who would bring a lot of glory and money to Europe and the United States.

Excuse me, do you still think Zhou Ziheng's songs are average?"

Facing the reporter's inquiries, Shuang Muxi's face was grim, and he could only say, "Radio data can't explain anything at all, let's wait until his record sales come out!"

Shuang Muxi was obviously making excuses and he was at his wit's end.

However, no matter how much he argues, he cannot change the fact that Zhou Ziheng has become popular in Europe and the United States.

On the 18th, "Zhou Ziheng" was officially released.

It was initially sold only in the United States and Canada as a trial release.

EMi's goal is simple. As long as the album performs well in the United States and Canada, it will attract great attention in other regions.

By then, there will be no need to invest any promotional resources, as this album will be able to gain huge exposure and attention in these places.

And in fact it turns out that EMi's idea was not wrong.

On the 18th, after "Zhou Ziheng" was released in the United States and Canada, sales immediately exploded.

In just one week, the album sold 260,000 and 160,000 copies in the United States and Canada respectively.

It ranked fifth and third in sales in the United States and Canada that week.

What’s even more surprising is that both the songs “As Long As You Love Me” and “I Want It That Way” made it into the US Billboard Hot 100 chart released that week, ranking 75th and 92nd respectively.

Two songs entered the top 100 in the first week, which made Zhou Ziheng's album more and more powerful and attracted the attention of other regions.
Needless to say, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The media no longer had the same attitude as before when they questioned Zhou Ziheng, and began to hype him up.

[Zhou Ziheng aims at Europe and America, and the album's first week sales explode]

[The pride of the Chinese people, Zhou Ziheng swept across Europe and America]

[Who else? Who else can stop Zhou Ziheng? He's already killing like crazy in Europe and America]

With extensive media coverage and the previous bet with Jacky Cheung, words such as "Zhou Ziheng's English song" and "sweeping Europe and the United States" became hot words at the time.

Whenever the media reports on Zhou Ziheng, they must add in front of the report that he swept across Europe and the United States.

Is this true?

The fact is that Zhou Ziheng is popular in Europe and the United States, and the media and ordinary audiences don’t care whether it is true or not.

They only know that Zhou Ziheng's English albums are very popular in Europe and the United States, which gives the Chinese people face.

There are always the most people who go with the flow in the entertainment industry.

When you get bad grades, everyone wants to tear you apart and cut your flesh.

But if you have good grades.

There's no doubt about that, you'll always be surrounded by praise.

As the record’s first week data was transmitted back to the country.

A large number of Zhou Zihengs emerged.

"Recently everyone has been talking about how good Zhou Ziheng's English album is, so I got this album with a critical attitude.

After listening to it, I was stunned. I couldn't imagine that this was an English song written by us Chinese.

One sentence to describe my mood is, "Awesome, awesome, really awesome."

"Zhou Ziheng is definitely at the forefront of the Chinese music scene. I think his English album can be called the best album in the world this year."

"It's unquestionable that Zhou Ziheng's album is definitely the most recommended English song this year."

"Everyone knows that I am not convinced by anyone in the Chinese music scene. Today, I am convinced. I would like to call Zhou Ziheng the No. 1 in the Chinese music scene. If you don't agree, come and argue with me."

Articles from music critics appeared in the reports, directly detonating the entire Chinese music scene.

Even ordinary fans know that Zhou Ziheng is awesome.

His songs became a big hit in Europe and the United States. He was the first Chinese to be so popular in Europe and the United States, and his songs were also listed on a very impressive American billboard.

Then, a strange phenomenon appeared in the Chinese music scene.

Music critics praise Zhou Ziheng for being awesome.

The media praised Zhou Ziheng for being awesome.

Ordinary fans are also praising Zhou Ziheng.

In short, Zhou Ziheng is awesome.

The only silent group should be Zhou Ziheng's colleagues. Except for Zhou Ziheng's friends, such as Leon Lai and Faye Wong, other singers remained silent.

But this silence did not last long.

As the storm gradually spread, the media finally turned their attention to these singers.

"Chengcheng, have you ever heard Zhou Ziheng's English albums?"

Aaron Kwok was the first person asked by the media about his evaluation of Zhou Ziheng's album.

"I heard about this. First of all, I am very happy that Zhou Ziheng's records are selling well in Europe and the United States. He has successfully proved that Chinese music can also go international.

However, because this album has not been released in Asia yet and I have been busy with concerts recently, I have not listened to all the songs.

But just from hearing "As Long As You Love Me" on the radio, I felt his success was inevitable.

It’s a very good song.”

Aaron Kwok’s answer was quite standard.

But the media coverage is clearly not going to be conventional.

The next day, the media reported like this: [Aaron Kwok admitted defeat, Zhou Ziheng defeated another superstar].

……

Despite the turmoil in the outside world, Zhou Ziheng himself was actually quite calm.

His album contains almost all of Backstreet Boys' hits.

If an album that brings together all of a singer’s hits doesn’t become popular, he would be depressed!

Therefore, he was very calm about the fact that this album achieved relatively good results in Europe and the United States.

Even, to a certain extent, he is still somewhat dissatisfied with this result. You know, the Backstreet Boys' 1997 album, which only had two hit songs, "Everybody" and "As Long As You Love Me", created sales of million in the United States.

As a result, this album, which also included Backstreet Boys' representative works such as "I Want It That Way" and "Larger Than Life", only sold more than 200,000 copies in the United States in its first week.

This is really lame compared to the Backstreet Boys.

As for the reactions in Asia and China to the huge sales of his album, he was not surprised at all.

You know, even 20 years or so later, if Wang Jiaer achieved a little success abroad, he would be greatly praised when he returned to China.

Not to mention now in the nineties.

During this period, there was indeed a general need for Chinese people to gain international recognition.

When someone does it.

Whether they like you or not, there is no doubt that they will strongly support you.

Jackie Chan is a typical example.

After he entered Hollywood, he almost became the pride of the Chinese people.

At this time, Zhou Ziheng was approaching this direction.

As long as he does not pass through Europe and the United States like a meteor, but continues to have a certain impact in Europe and the United States.

Just based on his achievement in entering Europe and the United States, he will become a hurdle that cannot be overcome when people talk about achievements in the music industry in the future.

To a certain extent.

Even though no one mentions it in China now.

But in fact, I'm afraid many people think he is the number one singer in China.

The Four Heavenly Kings all have to take a back seat compared to Zhou Ziheng's achievements in Europe and the United States.

While domestic media, music critics and fans are all praising Zhou Ziheng, the album "Zhou Ziheng" continues to be popular.

In the second week, sales in the United States were much higher than the previous week, reaching 300,000 copies.

Canada reached 210,000.

Two weeks after its release, the album has already sold an astonishing 930,000 copies in Canada and the United States.

This data directly exploded the European and American music scene.

European and American media finally began to report on this album.

[Amazing Chinese boy, he created a miracle]

[Asians are going crazy, he is making a push towards the Billboard champion]

[The global music scene will welcome a new first-class superstar, his name is Zhou Ziheng, an Asian]

It’s no wonder that some media said that Zhou Ziheng is making a bid for the Billboard champion.

Because, "As Long As You Love Me" has already reached number 24 on the US Billboard in the new week.

In addition, "I Want It That Way" also ranked forty-three.

In addition, there are two other songs from Zhou Ziheng's album on the list, "Everybody" ranks 85th.

"Larger Than Life" ranked ninety-seventh. Although it was at the end, it was already on the list.

Four songs are on the list at the same time, and the top one is already ranked twenty-fourth.

Although the Billboard Hot 100 chart includes 100 songs, it is also divided into different levels.

Generally, the ranks after fifty are called a level, twenty-five to fifty are a level, and ten to twenty-five are another level.

"As Long As You Love Me" was outside the top 50 last week, but this week it jumped directly to number 24. This climbing data is very terrifying, almost the same as those first-line European and American superstars.

If we dance again next week, who can guarantee that this song won’t make it into the top ten?
Therefore, it is not wrong to say that Zhou Ziheng is making a bid for the championship.

After the new week's data and Billboard charts came out, there is no doubt that the name Zhou Ziheng has appeared on the desks of many record company bosses in Europe and the United States.

And after this gratifying result came out.

EMi finally couldn't hold it anymore.

After learning that one of their Asian singers had achieved such dazzling success in the United States, the British head office intervened directly and stepped up the promotion of Zhou Ziheng's album.

On the other hand, it quickly began to distribute the product globally.

On January 3rd, the album "Zhou Ziheng" was officially released worldwide.

This record can be bought in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Of course, it can also be bought in mainland China, but the number of copies printed is very small. After all, there is no English market in mainland China at all.

After being released in most parts of the world, the album "Zhou Ziheng" finally achieved results that Zhou Ziheng was quite satisfied with.

In the first week after the global release, the United States continued to be popular, ranking first in sales among all regions with sales of 340,000.

It is not Europe or Canada that is following closely behind.

It is Japan, the world's second largest market.

The album "Zhou Ziheng" exploded with unprecedented power in Japan.

In the first week, it achieved an astonishing sales volume of 280,000 copies.

Next came Europe, where the total sales in European countries reached 240,000 copies.

Canada's data this week is similar to last week, stabilizing at around 200,000.

Plus data from other places, such as South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and other places.

This week, [Zhou Ziheng] achieved sales of 1.57 million, directly ranking first on the global sales list this week.

As a result, after three weeks of release, the total sales of "Zhou Ziheng" have reached 2.5 million.

This is because there was no large-scale release in the first two weeks.

The American Billboard ranking is a combination of radio data and sales data.

This week, the sales of [Zhou Ziheng] increased again, and at the same time, the radio data increased significantly.

As expected, "As Long As You Love Me" rose in the rankings again this week, but it did not enter the top ten, but ranked twelfth.

Other songs also gained a lot of popularity.

"I Want It That Way" saw the biggest increase, rising directly from the top 40 last week to the top 25.

"Larger Than Life" also dropped from the 90s to the 80s.

There is no doubt that the photo became a hit.

It's a global hit.

Zhou Ziheng has been involved in publicity and has a very direct feeling about the popularity.

At the beginning, when he was promoting in the United States and other places, he went on the radio. The radio DJ was indifferent to him because he was Asian and often made things difficult for him.

Now, when he goes on the radio, these DJs not only dare not ignore him, but instead, as soon as they see him, they come up to him and ask about his well-being, sometimes asking if he needs to eat, sometimes taking out the script and asking if there are any questions that are inconvenient to answer.

In addition, the book signing event can also make you feel popular.

After the album was released, EMi immediately arranged a signing event for him.

Basically one every two days.

Although there were people in the previous few games, most of them were Asians, and the number was not too large.

But as the record data became popular, more and more people knew about this record and bought it.

In the following weeks, his book signings began to attract more and more people.

From the very beginning, there were only a few hundred people in each show, and gradually it evolved into several thousand people in each show.

In addition, a lot of people gather around the venue of each signing event.

The largest rally was in Los Angeles, with a terrifying number of over 7,000 people.

(End of this chapter)